One of The Founding Fathers Of Shiromani Akali Dal & Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)
Eldest of the three famous Jhabalia brothers, Sardar amar Singh foght for the freedom of India from British yoke, and freedom of Sikh shrines from that of their toady mahants. Sardar Amar Singh Jhabal was born in 1888 at village Jhabal Kalan in district Amritsar. His grandfather, Kumedan Harbhagat Singh, buddy and Aide-De-Camp of Kanwar Naunihal Singh, and father Risaldar Gopal Singh had served meritoriously as officers in the cavalries of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and later the British.
His ancestor Bhai Langah Chaudhry of Patti Pargana, the illustrious devotee of the fifth and sixth Gurus; Mai Bhago, the dauntless follower of the tenth Guru of Mukatsar fame, and the Delhi vanquisher Sardar Baghel Singh had given his family an enviable name in the Sikh history. His younger brothers Sardar Sarmukh Singh Jhubaal, whom he had appointed the first president of the Shiromani Akali Dal when it was created in a meeting held at the Akal Takhat under his chairmanship, and Sardar Jaswant Singh Jhabal, who was elected twice as the president of the Darbar Sahib Parbandhak Committee had also played prominent roles in Gurdwara Reforms and Independence Movements along with Sardar Kharak Singh, Master Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh etc.
According to Giani Partap Singh, former Jathedar of the Akal Takhat, “Where the names of the Patel brothers – Vithal Bhai and Vallabh Bhai Patel, Bose brothers Sharat Chandar Bose and Netaji Subhash Bose, Khan brothers, Doctor Khan Sahib and Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan would be written in golden words, names of Jhubaal Brothers (S. Amar Singh, S. Sarmukh Singh & S. Jaswant Singh) will elicit veneration in Punjab. The sacrifices made by them in the Akali Movement of 1920-25 and every morcha for the independence of the country are unforgettable. They have glorified the name of their village Jhabal with their sacrifices and services. The three brothers left after them a glorious record of service to the community and the country. Their names will always shine in the history of Gurdwara Reforms and Independence Movements. Men do not live forever. Their deeds will always be remembered.
Educated in Khalsa College, Amritsar, Sardar Amar Singh had served as "thanedar" for nine years in North Western Frontier Province police force. He had resigned in 1917 in protest against the insulting behaviour of his British officer towards Indians. Sight of blood and death in Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 massacre had set Sardar Amar Singh on the path of struggle for freedom along with both his brothers. He joined the Indian National Congress the same year. He organized the first ever political conference in the rural areas of Punjab in July 1920 at the large village Vachhoya in Amritsar district adjoining the smaller village Dial Bharang where too S. Amar Singh had substantial land holdings. He was helped by his friends S. Dhan Singh of Vachhoya, "Zaildar" S. Harnam Singh of village Suddhar. Later on S. Amar Singh betrothed his only son Dr. Upkar Singh Dhillon to the only daughter of Zaildar Harnam Singh when they were together in jail. The Vachhoya conference had not only given a push to the Indian National Congress in rural Punjab, it had also started what developed into the Gurdwara Reforms Movement in Punjab, later also called the Akali Movement.
Later, on a resolution passed in a masiya diwan held at Tarn Taran, Sardar Amar Singh Jhabal led a jatha to Gurdwara Babey-di-Ber in Sialkot – now in Pakistan – to rid it from the patit Manager, appointed by the British Deputy Commissioner, who was indulging in abominable activities unbecoming of an administrator of a Sikh shrine. The jatha helped the local Sikh sangat assume control of the gurdwara against stiff resistance from the mahant and his henchmen supported by the local administration and the police, and its management was entrusted to a local managing committee under the president-ship of Baba Kharak Singh, who also joined the Akali and Congress Movements as a prominent leader. According to Giani Partap Singh former Jathedar of Akal Takhat, “In a way it was the first morcha of the Gurdwara Reforms which was lead successfully by Sardar Amar Singh Jhabal.… Besides assuming the control of Babey-di-Ber, Sialkot, Sardar Amar Singh assumed the control of the gurdwara Teja Wheela in Gurdaspur district. This way, the fame of the Jhubal brothers spread widely.”[v] Soon thereafter, Shromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was formed on 15 November 1920 to manage the liberated gurdwaras according to Sikh traditions and tenets. Shromani Akali Dal (SAD) was organized to provide volunteers to the SGPC to carry on the Gurdwara Reforms Movement on 14 December 1920.
Principal Shangara Singh writes, “After this, possession of some more gurdwaras was also obtained under the leadership of S. Amar Singh. At some places the mahants relinquished possessions peacefully, while at others they recanted from compromises. At some places they had to face opposition from their own jathedars. But to whichever gurdwara he went he did not come empty handed. Following are the gurdwaras he took possession of: Gurdwara Sri Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh, Gurdwara Tarn Taran Sahib, Gurdwara Babey Budhey di Beer, Teja Kalan, Dehra Baba Nanak and Gurdwara Ramdas. He also led a jatha to the Guru ka Bagh morcha and was arrested. According to Giani Partap Singh, “Chubaalia" brothers, S. Amar Singh, S. Sarmukh Singh and S. Jaswant Singh made splendid sacrifices for gurdwara reform.
S. Sarmukh Singh Jhabal was the first President of (Shromani Akali Dal). S. Amar Singh was the President of the Central Sikh League, District Congress Committee (Amritsar), Gurdwara Committee Tarn Taran and Ramdas, and S. Jaswant Singh that of the Sri Darbar Sahib Committee, Amritsar.”
Sardar Amar Singh had a keen interest in the Cooperative movement. He was one of the founder members of the managing committee of Cooperative Union in 1921 with headquarters at Chetanpura in Amritsar district. This was one of the earliest organized unions of the cooperative societies in Punjab.
Sardar Amar Singh worked in Shromani Akali Dal, Shromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Central Sikh League Amritsar District Congress Committee, and Punjab Pardesh Congress Committee, in all of which he had the honor of being elected President at one time or the other. In the Congress he was also elected as a member of the All India Congress Committee for two terms.
His was the rarest of rare families who have readily spent away their wealth for public, panthic (of the Sikh community), and national causes while hundreds of others in similar situations had amassed wealth. He held important offices in Akali and Congress Movements. Before the Independence and Akali Movements, the family descending from high aristocracy in Mughal and Sikh periods, had still owned over 1000 acres of lands in Amritsar and Lyallpur districts which was quite rich by Majha standards.
His ancestor Bhai Langah Chaudhry of Patti Pargana, the illustrious devotee of the fifth and sixth Gurus; Mai Bhago, the dauntless follower of the tenth Guru of Mukatsar fame, and the Delhi vanquisher Sardar Baghel Singh had given his family an enviable name in the Sikh history. His younger brothers Sardar Sarmukh Singh Jhubaal, whom he had appointed the first president of the Shiromani Akali Dal when it was created in a meeting held at the Akal Takhat under his chairmanship, and Sardar Jaswant Singh Jhabal, who was elected twice as the president of the Darbar Sahib Parbandhak Committee had also played prominent roles in Gurdwara Reforms and Independence Movements along with Sardar Kharak Singh, Master Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh etc.
According to Giani Partap Singh, former Jathedar of the Akal Takhat, “Where the names of the Patel brothers – Vithal Bhai and Vallabh Bhai Patel, Bose brothers Sharat Chandar Bose and Netaji Subhash Bose, Khan brothers, Doctor Khan Sahib and Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan would be written in golden words, names of Jhubaal Brothers (S. Amar Singh, S. Sarmukh Singh & S. Jaswant Singh) will elicit veneration in Punjab. The sacrifices made by them in the Akali Movement of 1920-25 and every morcha for the independence of the country are unforgettable. They have glorified the name of their village Jhabal with their sacrifices and services. The three brothers left after them a glorious record of service to the community and the country. Their names will always shine in the history of Gurdwara Reforms and Independence Movements. Men do not live forever. Their deeds will always be remembered.
Educated in Khalsa College, Amritsar, Sardar Amar Singh had served as "thanedar" for nine years in North Western Frontier Province police force. He had resigned in 1917 in protest against the insulting behaviour of his British officer towards Indians. Sight of blood and death in Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 massacre had set Sardar Amar Singh on the path of struggle for freedom along with both his brothers. He joined the Indian National Congress the same year. He organized the first ever political conference in the rural areas of Punjab in July 1920 at the large village Vachhoya in Amritsar district adjoining the smaller village Dial Bharang where too S. Amar Singh had substantial land holdings. He was helped by his friends S. Dhan Singh of Vachhoya, "Zaildar" S. Harnam Singh of village Suddhar. Later on S. Amar Singh betrothed his only son Dr. Upkar Singh Dhillon to the only daughter of Zaildar Harnam Singh when they were together in jail. The Vachhoya conference had not only given a push to the Indian National Congress in rural Punjab, it had also started what developed into the Gurdwara Reforms Movement in Punjab, later also called the Akali Movement.
Later, on a resolution passed in a masiya diwan held at Tarn Taran, Sardar Amar Singh Jhabal led a jatha to Gurdwara Babey-di-Ber in Sialkot – now in Pakistan – to rid it from the patit Manager, appointed by the British Deputy Commissioner, who was indulging in abominable activities unbecoming of an administrator of a Sikh shrine. The jatha helped the local Sikh sangat assume control of the gurdwara against stiff resistance from the mahant and his henchmen supported by the local administration and the police, and its management was entrusted to a local managing committee under the president-ship of Baba Kharak Singh, who also joined the Akali and Congress Movements as a prominent leader. According to Giani Partap Singh former Jathedar of Akal Takhat, “In a way it was the first morcha of the Gurdwara Reforms which was lead successfully by Sardar Amar Singh Jhabal.… Besides assuming the control of Babey-di-Ber, Sialkot, Sardar Amar Singh assumed the control of the gurdwara Teja Wheela in Gurdaspur district. This way, the fame of the Jhubal brothers spread widely.”[v] Soon thereafter, Shromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was formed on 15 November 1920 to manage the liberated gurdwaras according to Sikh traditions and tenets. Shromani Akali Dal (SAD) was organized to provide volunteers to the SGPC to carry on the Gurdwara Reforms Movement on 14 December 1920.
Principal Shangara Singh writes, “After this, possession of some more gurdwaras was also obtained under the leadership of S. Amar Singh. At some places the mahants relinquished possessions peacefully, while at others they recanted from compromises. At some places they had to face opposition from their own jathedars. But to whichever gurdwara he went he did not come empty handed. Following are the gurdwaras he took possession of: Gurdwara Sri Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh, Gurdwara Tarn Taran Sahib, Gurdwara Babey Budhey di Beer, Teja Kalan, Dehra Baba Nanak and Gurdwara Ramdas. He also led a jatha to the Guru ka Bagh morcha and was arrested. According to Giani Partap Singh, “Chubaalia" brothers, S. Amar Singh, S. Sarmukh Singh and S. Jaswant Singh made splendid sacrifices for gurdwara reform.
S. Sarmukh Singh Jhabal was the first President of (Shromani Akali Dal). S. Amar Singh was the President of the Central Sikh League, District Congress Committee (Amritsar), Gurdwara Committee Tarn Taran and Ramdas, and S. Jaswant Singh that of the Sri Darbar Sahib Committee, Amritsar.”
Sardar Amar Singh had a keen interest in the Cooperative movement. He was one of the founder members of the managing committee of Cooperative Union in 1921 with headquarters at Chetanpura in Amritsar district. This was one of the earliest organized unions of the cooperative societies in Punjab.
Sardar Amar Singh worked in Shromani Akali Dal, Shromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Central Sikh League Amritsar District Congress Committee, and Punjab Pardesh Congress Committee, in all of which he had the honor of being elected President at one time or the other. In the Congress he was also elected as a member of the All India Congress Committee for two terms.
His was the rarest of rare families who have readily spent away their wealth for public, panthic (of the Sikh community), and national causes while hundreds of others in similar situations had amassed wealth. He held important offices in Akali and Congress Movements. Before the Independence and Akali Movements, the family descending from high aristocracy in Mughal and Sikh periods, had still owned over 1000 acres of lands in Amritsar and Lyallpur districts which was quite rich by Majha standards.